I don't have the answers yet, but I have learned enough to be dangerous, and ask better questions..

From the NY Times this morning:
Airline Workers See Their Security Quickly Vanish


By MICHELINE MAYNARD

Published: October 8, 2004

As if times were not troubled enough in the airline industry, employees at US Airways, Delta and United are facing the stark realization that the security they hoped their jobs would provide is being quickly taken away.

Over the last week, US Airways and Delta employees have learned that they will not have company-paid health care benefits when they retire. Those airlines are also reducing vacation and sick time, and eliminating or curbing contributions to their pension plans. United has said it may terminate its pension plans as it tries to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Pay levels are also under attack. Yesterday, US Airways asked a bankruptcy court judge in Alexandria, Va., to impose pay cuts of 23 percent and other benefit reductions on members of unions that had not negotiated concessions. On Monday, the airline said that the pay of executives, managers and administrative staff members would be cut 5 percent to 10 percent. People in comparable jobs at Delta, which is trying to avoid its own Chapter 11 filing, learned on Sept. 28 that they would have 10 percent pay cuts.

Me again - here's the deal. Many many years ago, a deal was struck between corporations and our government. The deal was this: We the government will keep our hands off your business, and we will not institute national healthcare, as long as you companies keep the economy going, and take care of the workers with benefits and health insurance.

It's 2004, and in case you hadn't heard, workers like myself are on the rise. The single-person company, responsible for its own employment, taxes, and insurance is the new wave of workers. I also come equipped with laptop and cell phone so I don't even need to take up cubicle space in an office building.

But I am a little ahead of the curve. Most people I know are still slaving away at jobs that now require 50+ hour workweeks (do you have any idea how hard labor unions fought in the early 1900's to get the workweek limited back to 40 hours?) and whose security is gone as their health insurance benefits are eroding, and their salaries stagnate or are cut.

This is in the white collar sector, where the good money supposedly is, so where exactly is that booming economy of which Mr. Cheney spoke the other night?

Oh, yeah, it's in the low-end service sector. If I want a job, I merely need to stop in at Apple One for something that pays $10 per hour and has no benefits. Or I could always get work in the food industry. Health care seems to need people, especially nurses. I wonder if you can make a whole economy out of weapons, autos, and health care.

Oops - is that what we are doing???